Wednesday, February 28, 2018

I’m not worried about ending a sentence with a preposition, because
it’s not possible. The word some may think is a preposition at the end of a
sentence is actually an adverb. Words can be used as different parts of speech.
A word like “ride” can be a noun, a verb, an adjective, depending on use and
context. “Google” has become a verb, too. The definition of a preposition is a
word that precedes a noun or pronoun to create a phrase that modifies another
word in the same sentence. So if a word at the end of a sentence can’t be a
preposition by definition, what is it? It is an adverb, because it answers the
adverb questions of “when, how, where, in what way, to what extent?” Words aren’t
pigeonholed into one part of speech and the preposition has been misused and
abused by too many for too long. Stop with the idea that a sentence can or
cannot end with a preposition It is not a preposition if it ends a sentence, it
is an adverb.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Information must be purged by each individual and not merely
accepted. Information must be digested stripped of all its bits of fact,
verifiable, before it is passed on. Take time, do research, seek other
opinions, and find corroboration, before drawing and espousing a conclusion. Opinions
should be constantly shifting and realigning. Before publicly publishing ideas,
write a draft and read it, edit it; then rewrite it, polish it. Let it sit like
a good wine or leftover food.

I miss the bibliography that helped keep track of all the resources,
so I could cite them in my work. When I moved from atoms to digits, the
bibliography became hyperlinks.

There is a moral obligation to be responsible with our right
of free speech. Creating or perpetuating incorrect information is not
responsible. I try to verify what I say, so as not to speak lies. Right now the
platforms currently used for us to communicate are out of our control and in
the control of bots. There’s too much and it is coming too fast for anyone to
intelligently digest and formulate sound conclusions.

Right now we are in trouble because we have lost our
intelligence. We need to Make America Smart Again and that means each of us
must step back and explore each piece of information we get and follow it as we
did when doing those research papers. What we learned in school about research
has been lost to this chaos of information.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Even though scholars, basing their argument on a story told
more than a century after the fact, accept that Shakespeare was removed from
school around age thirteen because of his father's financial and social
difficulties, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that he had not acquired
a firm grasp of both English and Latin and that he had continued his studies
elsewhere. The famous quotation from Nicholas Rowe's notoriously inaccurate
biography of Shakespeare (written in 1709), where he claims that Shakespeare
"acquir'd that little Latin he was Master of" and that Shakespeare
was prevented by his father's poor fortune from "further Proficiency in
that Language", should be read with an extremely critical eye.

We know William Shakespeare was a high school dropout. He
never went further in school like his peers: Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe,
Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, and John Fletcher, all of whom had a more formal
education and in some cases went to Oxford or Cambridge. How does his successful
emergence on the London stage in 1590 happen
without a more formal education?

From the year 1577 until 1590, exactly how did William
Shakespeare become William Shakespeare? If he lacked a proper education, how
did he get access to the works of literature he used to create William Shakespeare?
There weren’t public libraries, bookstores, and the like in his day. The
wealthy, the gentry, and the nobility owned books. We know Shakespeare’s works
are based on existing texts, exactly how did he get access? Somehow this
intelligent lad figured it out.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets were original, but his plays were not,
with the two exceptions of Merry Wives of
Windsor and The Tempest. All the
others are appropriated from others sources. Nothing is known of Shakespeare from 1577 to
1590, except from random crumbs here and there, these thirteen years are
considered the Lost Years.

William had to leave school because of a town scandal
involving his dad. The bottom line was that William was out. But not down. He
secured a tutoring job from a younger schoolmate’s family. And then another and
another. Soon he was juggling the entire school in an orchestrated dramatic
production. The sins of the father were not visited upon he son. After he graduated
from his Stratford grammar school, by proxy, he moved on to the Halls. These
Halls were away from Stratford and populated by the wealthy. Suddenly, he had
access to the tomes that would let Shakespeare create beautiful masterpieces of
literature. These rich men educated in the finest schools and owners of fat libraries;
were able to provide Shakespeare with access as he educated their children.
Drama had to be a major vehicle for Shakespeare the schoolmaster. With his
family growing, Shakespeare was finding it hard to make ends meet. He
prostituted himself as a writer of sonnets for n’er-do-wells, the love lorn,
and the gentry.

Then the plagues hit London and the acting companies fled to
the hinterlands and Shakespeare. These traveling minstrels gave him ideas about
how to present to his charges in the guise of educating them. Many of his
rhetorical tricks and inventions came from these teaching moments in
Shakespeare’s own education. Since he didn’t seem to learn too much in school,
it became his duty to educate himself, which is exactly what he did. During
this thirteen-year period, Shakespeare grew a family and began a writing career
second to none. How did this happen without access to his sources and the
avenues to pursue this rabbit down the rabbit hole.

Shakespeare must have been a teacher. Consider the presence
of teachers in his plays.Love's Labor's Lost, Anthony
and Cleopatra, Taming of the Shrew,
and Two Noble Kinsmen, have a schoolmaster
or a tutor. In other plays there are references to schoolmasters, most notably
in King Lear: "Prithee, nuncle,
keep a schoolmaster that can teach thy fool to lie." (I,iv,170). Needless
to say the presence of a schoolmaster is not a good one until we get to The Tempest and Prospero. Prospero owns
the book, the staff, and the mantle as symbols of his scholarly authority. He
teaches Caliban many things and things he wishes he hadn’t. Prospero and
Shakespeare are one, as his own plans to retire. Art imitates Life as we watch
Shakespeare pass on the book, the staff, and the mantle just as Prospero does
in The Tempest.

Finally, consider his
gift to us of language, words, and phrases. Shakespeare changed our language like no other
either before or after him. A true man of letters could do this, not just
anyone, so how did he acquire this skill and art? He learned as a teacher and
used playwriting as the vehicle. How
did this man stay invisible for so long and then suddenly burst onto the scene?
Where and how did he get his education? He was a teacher.That is how he learned his future craft. He
must have taught in manors and villages wherever he could find work until he
was ready to bring it all to us. William
Shakespeare’s time in the wilderness was

Friday, February 16, 2018

A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

We
must explore this controversial Amendment as it applies to the 21st
Century and not the 18th Century. We must use common sense and societal
changes to interpret this amendment, just as we have the 1st
Amendment in 1992.

Context is always helpful. We should look at the Amendment
from the point of view of Jefferson, the author. The British Army was living in
people’s homes, weapons were confiscated, and searches could happen whenever
and so on and so forth; thus the Amendments.

The first four words of the 2nd Amendment, “A
well regulated Militia,” introduces the idea of a ‘Militia’, a band of men
forming a fighting unit, which is ‘well regulated’. ‘Well regulated’ is a
powerful pair of words as it conveys regulation, which has to be outside
regulation, not internal. We now have a large Military, so we are not in need
of a militia. “Being necessary to the security of a free State,” continues the
concept of creating an Army out of its citizens for defensive purposes. Again,
we now have a large Military, so the idea of the citizens doing this has become
moot. The citizens do not need Arms to protect themselves from foreign powers;
we have a Military to do this.

“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed.” This often quoted part of the Amendment is predicated on the
beginning of the sentence. Since that first part has become obsolete and
replaced by a far better Militia, the US Military, citizens don’t need Arms as
they did in the days when this document was created. Having them for hunting
and farming is obviously acceptable, but in congested communities? We don’t
hunt for food; we go to a store to buy our food. Hunters represent about 20% of
all gun owners. When the Founders drafted this document, “Arms” were single
shot manually loaded guns, muskets; NOT an automatic weapon designed for the
Military, the AR-15 specifically and all other automatic rapid fire killing
machines that were designed for war, not peace.It is irresponsible for us to allow these kinds of weapons in our
society. I believe the Founders would agree, especially if they saw them used by
children to kill other children.

Other countries such as Switzerland have a lot of guns in
its society, but they do not have the kind of misuse we have in this country.
Russia is going through a similar kind of student violence but no one is dying
because they don’t have guns, just knives and fists. Australia got rid of them
altogether. We need to examine the proliferation of guns, especially automatic,
war-killing machines in our society that end up killing children in our schools.
This is not what the Founders envisioned, Americans killing Americans because
they have the right to own a gun as defended by the 2nd Amendment. It’s like the car and Nader, so now we have
seat belts, it’s the law ands “well regulated,” as well as with alcohol,
tobacco, and marijuana. Once rogue industries, whose products were proven to be
deadly, were eventually “well regulated.” Guns are not “well regulated.”

We need to have common sense applied to our gun laws. We
need “well regulated” laws and a consideration of just what “Arms” means today.

Our Founding Fathers could never have envisioned what has
become of the country they created when children kill children in schools with
military style guns. I believe Jefferson would have reworded the 2nd
Amendment accordingly. Now it is our turn 227 years later to use common sense
to interpret the Amendment as it applies today, 2018.

Why not keep all military style and automatic weapons locked
up in gun clubs, shooting ranges and the like. The problem is children are
getting ahold of these weapons too easily, because the weapons in adult hands
are not “well regulated.” Just as we have licenses for so many things and
inspections and tests to determine proficiency of user, we should have such
oversight when it comes to gun and gun ownership. Owning a gun demands
responsibility, too.America prides
itself on states rights and yet in the gun discussion, I am now hearing how the
NRA wants to have federal laws of open and conceal carry, which is acceptable in
some states allow owners to take their guns into states that have different
laws. In other words, federal laws override states’ laws when it comes to guns.
This is outrageous. America is in trouble. We have become morally bankrupt over
such certain issues like guns, race, and women. The time to grow up is long
past. Why is it that we have such violence in a country considered the greatest
in the world? We are adrift.We lack a
moral and coherent leader. He is just a bully and a name caller, in short a
fifth grader.35% of the WH staff has
left for any number of reasons and this includes cabinet members. The turmoil
in the WH continues. Chaos is the order of the day. Congress is floundering and
toothless because the NRA money trumps common sense. America is becoming a
shithole country because of our poor leadership, our racism, bigotry, misogyny,
and love of guns; a harbinger signaling the fall of this American Dream. I fear
our next iteration will be of ignorance, greed, and deprivation if current
trends continue. Sadly, expect more of this, because like always it will
continue. I wonder when the bookies will start laying odds.Enough is enough, fix it adults or get out of
the way so someone else can do it.

Perhaps the children, the victims, in all of the school
shootings, will grow up and become better leaders and stewards of the American
Dream because they have been the recipients of the bad results of their elders’
misguided ways. Maybe the guns will be a common umbrella for this generation
just as nuclear threat was our common umbrella. Imagine Peace!

Monday, February 12, 2018

The sin of the father is the theme of Arnaldur Indridason’s
newest novel, The Shadow District. This
is a new series for Indridason. Will we ever know about Erlander’s fate as he
seeks the truth of the disappearance of his brother in the East Fjords of
Iceland? Or is he lost forever in Iceland, too?

The new series involves Iceland during WWII and the occupation
of the island by Allied troops. Two girls in different areas of Iceland are
raped and murdered. What links them is the singularly unique fact that both girls
were told to blame in on the elf people, especially the huldufolk. Iceland lore is filled with such folklore. This rich
tradition was one way to get through those long dark winters. The other part to
the story takes place today as the unsolved murders reemerge and involves the
some of the characters from the past. The past crimes are solved in the present
by one of the original investigators, Stepan Thorson who alerts the present
police with his untimely death. He was suffocated in his sleep. He was in his nineties.
He survived Normandy. Why was he killed?

Indridason provides a great cast of characters. Our new
hero, Konrad, a retired police officer, comes back to help in this case. Oddly
enough he, too, is connected to this case because his father, a debunked medium
at the time had suggested there was a second girl next to the other murdered
girl in question. Konrad’s father was embarrassed and ruined. But he was right,
although his methods are what is called into question about his character.

Not only are the sin of the father visited upon Konrad, it
is also visited upon a family of three generations who are influential, wealthy
politicians. The entire adventure of this case is fun and rewarding. Another
masterpiece from Arnaldur Indridason.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

An educator is the hero in John Updike’s Terrorist.This is a complicated book as it should be.
The topic is terror started in New Jersey and heading to New York City. All
religions are represented as the usual suspects clash over ideology, which is
good when no one dies. When people die, then it’s gone too far. The key to not
going too far is education.Education is
always the answer as long as it is open and public. The types of education,
religious and civil, are depicted craftily and metaphorically. Updike artfully
uses the “Six Degrees of Separation” axiom to weave an intricate, suspenseful,
and plot twisting marvel dealing with such a delicate topic: Terrorism. I’m
sorry I came to this book so late.

Blind following is the result of the lack of education the
lack of questioning, the laziness of the follower. Chauvinism is not a good
quality and yet our leaders demand it and name call or bully others who are not
following blindly. It is our right and duty to question authority otherwise terrorism
wins. We have a terrorist in the WH right now and he proves what a lack of
education can do. An educated person reviews all sides of an issue and does the
right thing even if it isn’t what was expected or wanted.

Will education help us here in America? We need to Make
America Smart Again.

EST

About Me

I retired in Feb 2012 after teaching English since 1974 in private and public schools. I'm a father of three. I have twin granddaughters and a grandson. I have two younger sisters. I live in Woodstock, GA and I travel in a Scamp.
ted.nellen@gmail.com